Brunswick teen goes on trial in killing of toddler

The other big story we're following-- The murder trial begins for this Brunswick teen, charged with shooting a 13-month old toddler as he sat in his stroller ... 3 The first day of jury selection has just ended .. in the trial of 18-year-old De'Marquise Elkins. Police say he shot 13 month old Antonio Santiago between the eyes back in March. Because of the publcity case has received .. the trial was moved from Brunswick to Marietta, Georgia .. just outside Atlanta. Channel 4's Tim Pullium, joining us live from the Cobb County Courthouse with details of the trial's first day .. Tim. 3 3 3 De'Marquise Elkins' and his mother Karimah sat during jury selection with very little expression as potential jurors were screened by their lawyers and state prosecutors.Both sides asked the jury pool if they heard about the March 21st shooting death of Antonio Santiago.Nearly every candidate said they knew a little about the case.3 of the candidates admitted they had strong opinions about the case and of the suspect.De'Marquise Elkins is charged with murder in the March 21 shooting death of Antonio Santiago.Karimah Elkins accused of tampering with evidence and making false statements to police.Dominique Lang is also charged with murder.The 15 year old's trial has not started yet but prosecutors told potential jurors he may testify in this case.SOT - Jacky Johnson/District Attorney "Could you keep an open mind if the co-defendant were to testify..thank you." All the jury panels said they could. But the defense asked a question that some jury candidates felt may be difficult to handle.SOT- Lockwood, Defense Attorney "Could you be impartial during the trial since a child was murdered, 6 potential jurors, a father, and several mothers and grandmothers said they could not be fair. 3 Tim... What can you tell us about the prospective jurors? 3 3 Tim has been tweeting updates about what's happened inside the courtroom, and will do so tomorrow, as jury selection continues. You can follow those tweets by heading to News4Jax-dot-com. Just look for the story under Top Stories. There, you can also find background

MARIETTA, Ga. -

Despite moving the trial of an 18-year-old accused of killing a toddler from Brunswick to the Atlanta suburb of Marietta to find an untainted jury, the majority of the 48 prospective jurors interviewed Monday morning said they had seen news coverage about the case.

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De'Marquise Elkins is charged with murder, aggravated assault and armed robbery in the March 21 shooting death of 13-month-old Antonio Santiago. The toddler was strapped in his stroller, out for a walk with his mother a few blocks from their apartment, when someone shot the boy between the eyes with a .22-caliber bullet.

Santiago's mother, Sherry West, was also shot, but recovered.

Elkins’ mother, 36-year-old Karimah Aisha Elkins, will be tried in Cobb County as well. She is charged with tampering with evidence, possession of a weapon by a felon and a probation violation.

Jury selection began at 8:30 a.m. Monday at the Cobb County courthouse in Marietta and they expected the process to take the rest of the day, and possibly extend into Tuesday.

The majority of potential jurors said they had heard about the case at least once on the news -- some for the first time Sunday night on Atlanta television stations.

Superior Court Judge Stephen Kelley had set aside two weeks for the trial.

Elkins faces life in prison if convicted of murder. His youth spared him a possible death sentence. At the time of the shooting he was 17, too young to face capital charges in Georgia.

Police say the motive was as banal as the slaying of a toddler was shocking. Investigators concluded that Antonio was killed during an attempted street robbery of his mother as she was strolling home with the child from the post office. West said a gunman demanding cash shot her baby in the face after she told him she had no money.

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"He kept asking, and I just said `I don't have it,'" West told The Associated Press the day after the slaying. "And he said, `Do you want me to kill your baby?' And I said, `No, don't kill my baby!'"

West was shot in the leg, and another bullet grazed her ear. Witnesses called 911 and rushed to her aid. None saw the shooting, but they watched as West tried to revive her son using CPR. "No, the baby's not breathing," one caller told a 911 operator.

Lang also is charged with murder but will be tried later. He's expected to be a key witness against Elkins, which prompted a question from District Attorney Jacky Johnson to each of the prospective jurors.

"Could you keep an open mind if the co-defendant were to testify." Johnson asked.

Every single jury candidate said they could.

A question by defense attorney Jonathan Lockwood was a harder for some of the citizens of Cobb County to answer.

"Could you be impartial during the trial since a child was murdered?" he asked.

Six potential jurors -- a father and several mothers and grandmothers -- said they could guarantee they could be fair.

Kevin Gough, a public defender who is Elkins' lead attorney, has strongly suggested in pretrial motions that the real killers are the child's own parents.

"Other evidence of record suggests Sherry West is mentally unstable, gave several inconsistent accounts of how the crime transpired, and had a financial interest in the death of her son in the form of an insurance policy," Gough said in a court motion filed Aug. 5.

Defense attorneys have said in court filings they have audio recordings and documents showing the child's mother (pictured, right) had dealings with Gerber Life Insurance Co. According to its website, Gerber Life sells life insurance policies for children starting as early as infancy. Coverage runs from $5,000 to $50,000.

Ashley Glassey, West's 21-year-old daughter, said soon after the shooting that her mother called her after Antonio was killed and asked, "How soon do you think the life insurance policy will send me a check?"

One of Elkins' lawyers interviewed Glassey on July 30 in Woodstown, N.J., where she was in jail for failing to appear in court in an unrelated case. According to a transcript, Glassey declined to confirm the story. "I don't want to incriminate anyone," she said.

Defense attorneys also point to lab tests by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation that found traces of gunshot residue on swabs taken from the hands of West and the boy's father, Louis Santiago. Reports filed in court say the GBI found a single microscopic particle of gunshot residue swabbed from the father's hands, while more than five particles showed up in swabs from West's hands.

The GBI report cautioned that gunshot victims can end up with residue on them. During a preliminary court hearing, Santiago said he touched the bullet wound on West's leg before his hands were swabbed.

In a court filing Wednesday, District Attorney Jackie Johnson argued that Elkins' defense lawyers have made "false, inflammatory and misleading statements" about the case.

While the toddler's mother identified Elkins as the shooter in a photo lineup, police say much of their evidence against the teenager came from his own family and the younger teen charged as his accomplice.

Investigators have testified that Lang told police he and Elkins were trying to rob a woman pushing a baby in a stroller when Elkins pulled a gun and shot them both.

Lang's aunt, Debra Obey, told police her nephew and Elkins came to her for a ride the day of the slaying. She said Elkins ducked down in the back seat of her car, as if he was hiding.

Four days after the shooting, police said information from Elkins' mother and sister helped lead investigators to a pond where they found a .22-caliber revolver. Both women were charged with evidence tampering. Elkins' mother, Karimah Elkins, also was charged with lying to police. Prosecutors say Elkins' mother and an aunt gave police conflicting alibis for his whereabouts at the time of the shooting. Karimah Elkins is scheduled to stand trial alongside her son.

Meanwhile, prosecutors say Elkins shot somebody else 10 days before the toddler was killed. Wilfredo Calix Flores has identified Elkins as the man who shot him in the arm during an attempted street robbery March 11. Police say Flores was shot with a .22-caliber bullet.

The judge has ruled that jurors can hear about a statement police say Elkins made the day after the killing. Police investigator Roderic Nohilly testified at a pretrial hearing that he and officer Cody Blades were escorting a handcuffed Elkins when the suspect said, "Y'all ain't got no gun. Y'all ain't got no fingerprints." He then referenced an acquittal.

The investigator said Blades just smiled at Elkins, who responded: "Oh, y'all got the gun?"

Channel 4's Tim Pulliam is in the Marietta courtroom as the trial begins. He'll provide updates to this story throughout the day and have live reports on The Local Station beginning at 5 p.m.

Copyright 2013 by News4Jax.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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